


Gunslinger

by burglebezzlement



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: F/F, Family Secrets, Peacemaker, Post Episode 1x13, Shorty's, Spoilers through 1x13, Treat, Warm beverages, Waverly and Nicole fighting Revenants and being in love, Winter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-29
Updated: 2016-10-29
Packaged: 2018-08-22 18:56:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,685
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8296510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/burglebezzlement/pseuds/burglebezzlement
Summary: Waverly and Nicole are staying in the Ghost River Triangle to protect Peacemaker while Dolls and Wynonna rescue Dolls. But the Revenants aren’t staying away just because Wynonna’s out of town — and Peacemaker may have a mind of its own.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [botherd](https://archiveofourown.org/users/botherd/gifts).



It's evening, and Nicole and Waverly are sitting in Nicole's police cruiser, outside Shorty's, watching the place to see if any of Bobo's rat scum come out.

They’re holding down the fort. Keeping an eye on Peacemaker. Wynonna and Doc are on the road right now, executing their plan for getting Dolls back. Wynonna hasn't told Waverly the details. Nicole knows a bit more, but she told Waverly that she doesn't want to know _unless you want to get tried for treason, I mean for real, babe, not like that time Dolls threatened me_.

Waverly is pretty sure that wasn't a threat, but since Dolls is the one they're trying to break out of prison, she's letting it slide.

It gets dark out in Purgatory in January, and Waverly's grateful for the warm thermos Nicole brought along. Purgatory's finest don't get the best coffee, but it's definitely better than nothing. She lets the cup warm her fingers while they keep watch.

"You didn't need to bring Peacemaker," Nicole says, bumping her shoulder against Waverly's.

Waverly shrugs. Maybe she didn't. The Homestead's safe enough, for the most part, and it's not like a Revenant could hold Peacemaker anyway.

But Wynonna left her to keep it safe. None of them want to risk taking Peacemaker out of the Ghost River Triangle again, not after what happened at the Solstice. 

Waverly feels safer with it on her, even though she knows it won't fire for her.

Won't fire for her for more than one reason. Although she's been trying not to think about the second one.

* * *

Waverly's drowsy and cold, her head on Nicole's shoulder, when Nicole suddenly tenses.

"I think I see someone," Nicole whispers, and Waverly sits up. Her hand goes for Peacemaker before she remembers. _Not the Heir. Not even an Earp._

They watch as a heavy-set man walks up to Shorty's, looks in either direction, and lets himself in with a key. (Not that a key's necessary. Nobody's fixed the front window yet — Wynonna sent Bobo back to hell, where he belongs as far as Waverly's concerned, and the town's had other priorities than figuring out what happens to Shorty's now.)

"We should check it out," Waverly says, low.

Nicole's got her lower lip between her teeth. Waverly can just see, in the light from the streetlamp. "Maybe."

Waverly reaches to open the car door, but Nicole reaches across and brushes her hand. "Give him a chance to get inside."

They wait, silent in the cold car, and then the light turns on inside the bar and Nicole nods. Waverly tries to shut the car door quietly behind her.

Nicole motions to keep low, and they creep around, keeping below the window. Nicole's got her gun pulled. Waverly's still got Peacemaker, which might make a Revenant think twice until they realize she’s the wrong sister.

"Let's go around back," Waverly says, motioning to the alley.

She lived here long enough, with Champ, and it turns out that the key she never bothered to take off her key ring still works. She opens the door and motions for Nicole to follow her through the back hallway, past the bar kitchen. It still smells like grease, like burned onions, and Waverly's hit with a powerful wave of nostalgia for how it used to be, with Shorty behind the bar and whatever cook he'd landed for the week back in the kitchen, and her running drinks. 

In the main room, the man is rummaging through the area under the bar, obviously looking for something. It's still a mess inside. Broken glass glitters on the floor in the light from the few unbroken bulbs. The cold air spilling in from the broken window reaches all the way to the back of the room. 

Nicole's got her gun trained on him before he sees them.

He snarls, his voice going from normal-human down into the register only Revenants use. The mark flares on his forehead. Nicole keeps the gun trained on him, but she steps back involuntarily. 

Waverly's hand goes to Peacemaker. _Nicole hasn't seen this before_ , she realizes. Hasn't seen the true face of a Revenant. Heard the true voice. 

"What are you looking for?" Nicole asks. 

"None of your business, bitch," the man growls.

Nicole's gun is steady. "Just tell us what you're looking for."

Instead of answering, the Revenant growls and rushes them. Nicole puts three shots into him, tight grouping, right in the chest. 

It doesn't stop him. He's still coming at them.

Waverly draws Peacemaker, and then there's a tingling in her hands, where she's holding the grip, and the barrel flares to life — symbols, orange-red, and Waverly's almost sure she recognizes them —

— and she fires, without thinking, reflexively. Peacemaker kicks in her hands. Waverly tastes gunpowder as the Revenant stops, his face split with orange fire, and then the floor of Shorty's opens up, burning with hellfire, the warmth driving out the breeze from the broken window as he's dragged under. Dragged down to hell.

"Holy shit," Nicole says, into the silence that follows.

Waverly's hands are shaking. She lowers Peacemaker. The barrel is dark again.

"That was impossible," Waverly says.

"He's gone now," Nicole says. "Come on. Let's see what he was searching for."

Waverly stares at the gun and then shakes her head. If she lets herself think about what just happened, she's going to freak out, and there's no time for that right now. They've got a lead. An indication of something a Revenant wanted. Maybe something Bobo hid, something that will help Wynonna once she gets back from rescuing Dolls. 

They find the crystals behind a false panel that Waverly didn't know about. Maybe it's something Bobo had installed. Maybe it's something that was installed so long ago, everyone forgot about it. Maybe even Shorty never knew.

The crystals are green and creepy and pretty clearly what the Revenant was looking for, so Waverly gets gloves from the kitchen and they carefully put them into a box for transport. They don't have any of Dolls' fancy Black Badge boxes for containing dangerous stuff, but Waverly's read enough books on the occult that she knows to find something non-conductive — a plastic box from the kitchen, one of the ones they used for food storage, lined with sheets of paper towels to keep the crystals from getting knocked around on the drive. They tape the box up and carry it out to Nicole's cruiser. It'll be safe enough at the Homestead.

* * *

They get back to the Homestead well after midnight. It's dark. Waverly switches on all the lights, and Nicole goes out to the porch and comes back in with wood, and builds a fire in the stove in the corner. The Homestead has heat — sort of; the boiler's temperamental — but the heat from the woodstove feels good, once Nicole's got it burning.

Waverly hides the crystals at the back of the closet, upstairs, where she hid the skull. When she gets back downstairs, Nicole's got a pan of milk on the stove, heating up.

"Cocoa," she says, when Waverly asks. "Thought it might be soothing."

"I could use that.” Waverly sets Peacemaker down on the table and sits down, carefully, on the couch. 

Nicole doesn't try to push her, just pokes at the pan until the milk's warm and then busies herself with mugs and cocoa and marshmallows. She hands Waverly the mug, and then sits down beside her.

"So." She nods towards Peacemaker. "You want to talk about it?"

Waverly pushes her hair back from her face. "It shouldn't have happened," she says.

"Willa and Wynonna both fired Peacemaker. Why not you?"

Waverly takes a sip of the hot chocolate. It's thick and rich, and exactly the right temperature.

"You're all Earps," Nicole says, like it’s obvious, like it’s nothing, and then looks at Waverly expectantly.

"That's the thing." Waverly's chest is tight.

Because she hasn't told anyone this. Not Nicole and not Doc and definitely, definitely not Wynonna, because she doesn't know how Wynonna will deal with it. Especially not right now. 

"I... talked to Bobo," Waverly says. "Before Wynonna killed him."

Nicole doesn't say anything, just raises an eyebrow.

"He told me I wasn't an Earp," Waverly says, all in a rush, and then she’s telling Nicole everything. All the years of wondering why Willa and Wynonna were the good kids. All the years of wondering why it was always Waverly’s birthday that got forgotten. The way Willa used to watch her, sometimes, after their mom left. 

Because it all makes sense if she's not really Ward Earp's daughter. If she's not really an Earp.

Nicole listens, sipping her cocoa and watching Waverly while she talks. 

When Waverly's done — when her words run out — Nicole sets their cocoa mugs on the table, and pulls Waverly in, kissing her on the forehead. 

"It's not possible," Waverly says, into Nicole's shoulder. "I can't have fired Peacemaker."

"I was there," Nicole says, and she kisses Waverly on the lips, slow, before pulling back again. "I was there, and I saw it."

"So... was Bobo lying? And I'm not the Heir. How is this possible?"

"It happened," Nicole says. She brushes her hand through Waverly's hair, soft, tangling her fingers in the strands. "You didn't imagine it."

Waverly sits back with a sigh. "Yeah. But…."

But Wynonna. Having a second Heir — they've been through that. It didn't work.

"Wynonna's going to get Dolls back," Nicole says, and she sounds so sure of it that Waverly has to believe her. "And as far as Peacemaker is concerned, you're an Earp. You and Wynonna will work the rest of it out." 

She hugs Waverly closer, and Waverly lets her head fall back onto her shoulder. 

"I know you two will work it out," Nicole says. Her breath is warm against Waverly’s temple. "You’re not Willa. You and Wynonna… you love each other."

Waverly snorts. "Like that makes it easy."

"Yeah. But you’ll work it out."

"Promise?" Waverly whispers.

Waverly can feel Nicole’s smile, feel her lips move against her hair. "I have faith."


End file.
